Its May

I've got the bug to start blogging again.  Maybe its the time of year, or maybe its just that I feel so blessed with our life that I want to write it down.  

Its been an awesome, and very busy, Spring.  The weather has been great, and we've had continuous rain in the last couple of weeks. We did have one amazing weather event that we will never forget.  One night when uncle Link was visiting, and the boys had gone to bed, it started hailing.  We were struck by the amount of the hail, more than I had ever seen.  We opened the door and the air was cold because of all the ice.  It was truly exciting to see.  Benjamin was woken up and came down to witness it.  We took pics of this momentous occasion.  

Well the excitement and novelty turned into sadness the next day when we realized that the hail really did a number on our plants.  See all the leaves in the picture above?  Well those were about half of the new leaves on all of our oak trees.  On top of that, the newly emerging plants and my tomato garden were all obliterated.  To add injury to insult, our pool was shot and the filter went kaput.  What a mess! Luckily we had uncle Link here to help.

Between this crazy hail storm and the monsoon season that we've been experiencing in the last few weeks, we had amazingly gorgeous sunny 70's.  I recall one perfect day by the creek.  It was truly a day that you just realize how beautiful life can be, and how much God must love us.  It was hard to capture on camera, but I tried.  While the boys threw rocks in the creek, as they could for the entire day, I soaked it all in.

Mother's Day was absolutely fantastic again.  Those little guys just treat me so well!  It makes me feel so amazingly blessed and so loved.  It just reminds me of how significant this role is in my life.  What an amazing thing to be defined by; Motherhood!  The littlest boys did a project in preschool that I absolutely loved.  They totally captured me, especially my age.

Then where else did we go but the Four Seasons on a beautiful evening.  The boys were able to run around in the bright green grass for an hour while we sat and enjoyed some amazing food.

We've done so many great things this spring, but nothing crazy.  Mostly we've just enjoyed nature and each other.  Here are some cute outtakes.  

New Year's Eve

We had a different New Year's Eve this year.  We usually have babysitters and stay out late, but this year granmom and grandad were unavailable due to Mamaw's illness and Amma and Papa had already made plans.  Truthfully, it was one of the best New Year's Eves because we spent it at home with the kids, having fun together.  We all went to Central Market to pick out some decadent food, including lobster.  We came home, had fun cooking together, eating, and watching some celebrations on TV.  The boys hit the hay and Lance and I stayed up enjoying a bottle of champagne and a movie.

All I got were a few pics of the boys eating and the beef carpaccio that Lance made.  Yes, like last year, he spent his yearly night as a chef.  I'm proud that Benjamin tries so many things now.  He LOVES lobster!  Seriously, you don't have to go out to have fun or to indulge.

Christmas 2014

It was a traditional  Christmas for the Vaughns this year, with local flair and plenty of gifts.  This was our Christmas card picture:

Unfortunately, many of us were sick at various times over the holiday.  The worst came when Sawyer needed breathing treatments Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.  We had to take him to the doctor after we opened presents.  He turned out to be okay, thankfully, but it sure made it stressful and sad at times.

Despite that, there was plenty of Christmas cheer to be had.  The boys looked absolutely adorable in their Elf pajamas.

This is what it looked like Christmas morning.  Santa sure was generous!

The boys each got a football helmet and jersey representing their favorite team.  Benjamin thought it would be fun to wear them all at once.

 Perhaps he's a future quarterback!

The boys also got new bed sets.  I think they were happy with our choices.

Alas, poor Sawyer needed time out for a treatment.

We had a great Christmas day dinner with both sets of grandparents.  I took on the challenge of another festive holiday cake, and people had fun trying to get good pics of it.

Here is my favorite picture of the chocolate peppermint snowball cake.  Yum!  I'm pretty sure though, that I did gain 3 pounds just from eating this cake.

One of my favorite traditions that we've established since the boys have been around is going to the Four Seasons to see the Gingerbread Village.  They usually have a train running around it, but not this year.  I don't think it was a problem.

Although I don't have any pictures of it, I have to mention the amazing dinner that we had at Trio, the restaurant there.  Afterwards we were all in a giddy mood, especially the boys of course.

Until next year!!!